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Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies

Research Projects

Ocean Governance : Index

CERMES is engaged in a diversity of activities relating to ocean governance in the Wider Caribbean Region and beyond. Many of these activities are based on the Large Marine Ecosystem Governance Framework which was conceived as a contribution to the development of the first phase of the GEF Caribbean Large Marine Ecosystem (CLME) Project (2009-2012). The LME Governance Framework has also provided a basis for other contributions to ocean governance.

CERMES has also developed the Governance Effectiveness Assessment Framework (GEAF) that is the basis for monitoring the SAP that was prepared in the first Phase of the CLME Project and that will be implemented in the current, second, Phase. The GEAF was also used by the Governance Working Group of the GEF Transboundary Waters Assessment Programme (TWAP) (2013-2015) as a basis for comparison among the governance assessments of the five transboundary components: aquifers, lakes, rivers, LMEs and Open Ocean.

The LME Governance Framework 
Global and regional ocean governance Development of the LME Governance Framework
The Large Marine Ecosystem (LME) Governance Framework is based on linked policy cycles at multiple levels, from local to global. The cycles may vary in nature at various levels and from location to location. However, they must be complete in order for there to be effective governance at the level or location in question. Cycles must also be linked vertically with two-way flows if they are to be effectively connected with the remainder of the framework.
 
The Framework provides a way of assessing complex regional governance systems where multiple spatial and organisation scale levels create challenging complexity. It provides for framework building that can be approached incrementally with interventions specifically targeted at:
  • Establishing or completing policy cycles
  • Building or enhancing linkages
 
The LME Governance Framework is fully described in the following documents ​The LME Governance Framework emerged from the perspective that governance is an overarching consideration that encompasses all aspects of Ecosystem Based Management (EBM). The rationale for this perspective on LMEs is given in:
  • Mahon, R., L. Fanning and P. McConney. 2009. A governance perspective on the large marine ecosystem approach. Marine Policy 33: 317–321. Email for copy rmahon@caribsurf.com

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The LME Governance Framework was used to design the CLME Project (2009-2012) and as a basis for governance assessments in the Project

CLME Project design


CLME Project assessments
Governance assessment methodology was developed and applied in several governance assessment case studies
  • Mahon, R., L. Fanning, R. and P. McConney. 2012. Governance assessment methodology for CLME pilot projects and case studies. CERMES Technical Report No 53: 19p.
  • Mahon, R. and T. Phillips. 2012. Governance assessment for the Guianas-Brazil shelf continental shelf fisheries ecosystem. CERMES Technical Report No 59: 29p.
  • Fanning, L. 2012. OSPESCA/CLME Pilot for the shared stocks of the Central American lobster fisheries – Governance Assessment. CERMES Technical Report No 54: 33p.
  • CERMES. 2012a. CRFM/CLME Eastern Caribbean Flyingfish Fishery Case Study – Governance assessment. Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies (CERMES), University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, Barbados. CERMES Technical Report No 57. 20p.
  • CERMES. 2012b. CRFM/CLME large pelagic fishery case study – Governance Assessment. CERMES Technical Report No 58. 29p.
  • Mahon, R. 2012. Management and Conservation of Reef Biodiversity and Reef Fisheries Pilot Project: Governance assessment for Pedro Bank, Jamaica. CERMES Technical Report No 55: 34p.
  • Mahon, R., A. Cooke, L. Fanning and P. McConney. 2013. Governance arrangements for marine ecosystems of the Wider Caribbean Region. CERMES Technical Report No 60: 99p.
Several other research initiatives at CERMES have built on the LME Governance Framework


The extent to which the governance characteristics vary among LMEs of the world
  • Mahon, R., L. Fanning, P. McConney and R. Pollnac. 2010. Governance characteristics of large marine ecosystems. Marine Policy 34: 919–927. Email for copy rmahon@caribsurf.com

Science policy interfaces in the WCR
  • McConney, P., L. Fanning, R. Mahon and B. Simmons. 2012. Survey of the regional science-policy interface for ocean governance in the Wider Caribbean Region. CERMES Technical Report No. 51: 46pp.
  • McConney, P., Fanning, L., Mahon, R. and Simmons, B. 2016. A first look at the science-policy interface for ocean governance in the Wider Caribbean Region. Front. Mar. Sci. 2:119. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2015.00119

National-regional interfaces in the WCR
  • Mahon, R., P. McConney, K. Parsram, B. Simmons, M. Didier, L. Fanning, P. Goff, B. Haywood and T. Shaw. 2010. Ocean governance in the Wider Caribbean Region: Communication and coordination mechanisms by which states interact with regional organisations and projects.CERMES Technical Report No. 40: 84pp.
  • McConney, P., I. Monnereau, B. Simmons and R. Mahon. 2016. Report on the Survey of National Intersectoral Coordination Mechanisms. Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies, The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, Barbados. CERMES Technical Report No. 84: 75pp.

Regional-global interactions
  • Mahon, R. and L. Fanning. 2016. Linking Caribbean Ocean Governance Efforts to Global Arrangements. Social and Economic Studies 65:1 (2016): 107—130. (request copy from rmahon@caribsurf.com)

Local-national-regional fisher folk engagement and capacity building
  • McConney, P. and T. Phillips. 2011. Collaborative planning to create a network of fisherfolk organisations in the Caribbean. Pages 207-229. In B. Goldstein (ed.) Collaborative Resilience: Moving Through Crisis to Opportunity. MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts  376 pp.
  • McConney, P, T. Phillips, M. Lay and N. Nembhard. 2016. Organizing for good fisheries governance. Social and Economic Studies 65:57-86
  • McConney, P., T. Phillips, N. Nembhard and M. Lay.  2017. Caribbean Fisherfolk Engage the Small-Scale Fisheries Guidelines. Pp. 451-472 in S. Jentoft, R. Chuenpagdee, M. Barragán-Paladines and N. Franz. (Eds) The Small-Scale Fisheries Guidelines: Global implementation. Springer, Cham: MARE Publication Series 14
The connection between the LME Governance Framework and EBM in the Wider Caribbean was explored in a symposium, published in:
Fanning, L., R. Mahon and P. McConney. [Eds.]. 2011. Towards Marine Ecosystem-based Management in the Wider Caribbean. Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam, 426 p.
  There has been regional uptake of the LME Governance Framework
The LME governance framework has been adopted by the Caribbean Sea Commission of the Association of Caribbean States as a working model for regional ocean governance:

The application of the LME Governance Framework to the development of a regional ocean governance framework for the CLME+ Strategic Action Programme (SAP) is described in:
  • Mahon, R., L. Fanning and P. McConney. 2014. Assessing and facilitating emerging regional ocean governance arrangements in the Wider Caribbean Region. Ocean Yearbook 28: 631-671 (request copy from rmahon@caribsurf.com).
  CERMES contribution to global/regional ocean governance assessment
The LME Governance Framework is the basis for governance assessment methodology developed and applied during the GEF Transboundary Waters Assessment Project (TWAP). 
  • Mahon, R., L. Fanning, and P. McConney. 2011. Observations on governance in the Global Environment Facility (GEF) International Waters (IW) Programme. CERMES Technical Report No. 45: 40 pp.

The Transboundary Governance Effectiveness Assessment Framework (GEAF) was developed for assessing governance effectiveness at the strategic level. It is fully described in:
The GEAF is the basis for the SAP Monitoring and Evaluation Framework for the CLME+ Project (2015-2020)
 
The GEAF in GEF Transboundary Waters Assessment Programme (TWAP) assessments:
  • Fanning, L., R. Mahon, K. Baldwin and S. Douglas. 2015. Transboundary Waters Assessment Programme (TWAP) Assessment of Governance Arrangements for the Ocean, Volume 1: Transboundary Large Marine Ecosystems. IOC-UNESCO, Paris. IOC Technical Series, 119: 80 pp. 
  • Mahon, R., L. Fanning, K. M. Gjerde, O. Young, M. Reid, S. Douglas. 2015. Transboundary Waters Assessment Programme (TWAP) Assessment of Governance Arrangements for the Ocean, Volume 2: Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction. UNESCO-IOC, Paris. IOC Technical Series, 119: 91 pp. 
  • Mahon, R., L. Fanning, J. Akrofi, M. Bertule, L. DeStefano, A. Forslund, P. Glennie, S. Heileman, L. Talaue McManus, G-J. Nijsten, W. Rast and K. Uusimaa.  2016.  Comparison of Governance Assessments Conducted by the Transboundary Waters Assessment Programme Components. United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi. x- 46 pp
Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies
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